Happy Thanksgiving

So, how was your Thanksgiving?  We had a full house this year. Deborah and Stefan and the three girls were here along with our son Stephen.    We did the traditional feast on Monday and will eat leftovers for a good part of the week.  Thanksgiving was good, and we had a riot with the grandkids.  But it was a busy weekend, with conducting a funeral on Friday, dealing with a car accident on Saturday, three services on Sunday, including dedicating our youngest grand-daughter and the feast on Monday.

In the rush I wonder how much time I really had for giving thanks.  And I have much to be thankful for, especially as I look around at the rest of the world, and I don’t just mean material blessings.  I love my wife and I love my life and there’s a lot to be said in that statement.   Often though I take those things for granted, or worse, take them as my due.    

I’m not going to make promises about how next Thanksgiving weekend will be less rushed because it won’t be.  But I am going to try really hard through the year to say “thank you” more to my family, my friends and my God.   Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Love thy Neighbour and turn down the Music

“I called the cops on a church!”  Well, that made my ears perk up.  I was working on my message at a Tim’s in the city the other day when I heard those words.  I wasn’t exactly eavesdropping up to that point, but that quickly changed. 

According to the story that I overheard, the gentlemen in question lives next door to a church in the city and the previous evening at 9:40 he went over to ask them to turn down their sound system.  Apparently their band was practising for Sunday and he claimed he could hear them in his apartment with his headphones on.  When they didn’t turn it down, or at least didn’t turn it down enough he called the police, and then they turned it down.

I wonder if they thought they were being persecuted for righteousness sake?  In reality they were just playing their music too loud.

If his version is the truth then I would suspect they greatly reduced any chance they might of had of introducing him to Jesus.  Sometimes being a good witness is simply being courteous and Jesus’ command to love our neighbour starts with being a good neighbour.

But then again, there might be another side to the story.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.

Look Both Ways. . .

Seriously?  A couple of weeks ago I was reading in the paper that city staff had recommended that Halifax should institute a pedestrian safety campaign to help reduce the number of car pedestrian accidents.  Seriously?  When I was three my mother taught me to look both ways before crossing the street and when I was fifteen my driving instructor taught me to not run over pedestrians. 

And now we, meaning tax payers, are going to spend obscene amounts of money to tell people, look both ways before crossing the street and don’t run over pedestrians.  Seriously?

 It sounds silly having to be reminded of the basics, but how often in our Christian lives and our churches do we seem to forget the basics? 

When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was, His response was to Love God and to love others.  And how are we supposed to do that?  Well, the Bible tells us that if we love God we demonstrate it by obeying his commandments and that seems simple enough and we love others by loving them.  

And we shouldn’t need another program to remind those who have been Christians forever that what they are supposed to be doing is loving God and loving others.   Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.